On April 13, more than 800 South Floridians filled Corpus Christi Catholic Church for the annual Nehemiah Action Assembly of Miami PACT (People Acting for Community Together), the largest interfaith direct-action organization in the region. Barry University turned out in force: 44 students and two faculty and staff members attended, and one Barry staff member and four Barry Honors Program students took the stage as speakers. Honors students had spent the academic year working alongside PACT, including a complete redesign of the organization's website, which they announced to the assembly from the stage.
The Nehemiah Action Assembly is not a rally in the ordinary sense. It is a public accountability session in which elected officials are asked, in front of their constituents, to say "yes" or "no." This year, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Housing Director Nathan Kogan, and Commissioners Ralph Rosado, Oliver Gilbert III, and Raquel Regalado sat before the assembly and answered.
On mental health, county leaders pledged support for opening the Miami Center for Mental Health & Recovery with a nonprofit operator: a diversionary facility offering mental health care, dental services, job training, and transitional housing, intended to reduce the number of people cycling through the county jail.
On housing, officials agreed to move toward redefining “workforce housing” using neighborhood-level income data rather than a countywide Area Median Income (AMI) figure, a technical-sounding change with real consequences. Under the current system, units marketed as affordable for a teacher earning roughly $51,000 can rent for more than $3,000 a month. Mayor Levine Cava and Nathan Kogan pledged support for amending AMI definitions by census tract and for sliding-scale developer incentives aimed to incentivize these affordable developments. Commissioner Gilbert requested a six-month timeline rather than the 90 days PACT had proposed. The event and its outcomes were covered by the Miami Herald, WLRN, and CBS Miami.
What happened in April was the visible part of a year of quieter work. In October, the Office of Integral Ecology hosted a PACT listening session in the Adrian Dominican Institute, where 11 students named the community issues they most wanted addressed and brought 31 students to PACT's Annual Meeting to learn the organizing process and think through the housing crisis alongside community members.
In March, Barry's Integral Ecology Coordinator, Madeline Maynard, joined a meeting with the County's Director of Housing and Mayor Levine Cava to discuss affordable housing ahead of the Action. Eleven students and two faculty and staff attended the PACT North Rally as team leaders. In April, four students and two staff completed role preparation and media training at the Nehemiah Action rehearsal.
Through the spring and summer, the Office of Integral Ecology attended PACT board meetings, sustained campaign work between assemblies, met with elected officials to advance PACT's housing priorities, and helped plan a September voter registration drive in collaboration with Barry's Campus Democracy Project.
Read more:
- Miami Herald — “Faith coalition wins pledges from Miami-Dade leaders on housing, mental health” (Lauren Costantino)
- WLRN — “Miami leaders pledge to faith leaders more funding for mental health, boosting housing affordability”
- CBS Miami — “Outcry Grows as Miami-Dade Delays Opening of Miami Center for Mental Health”
- Barry University Blog — “Barry University Strengthens Community Impact Through Miami PACT Partnership”
- Miami PACT — What We Do